4.10.04

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has said he expects nothing from the IRA for anything less than the Good Friday Agreement.

And as he meets the taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Dublin today the party leader said he expects the DUP to do a deal as efforts continue to reinstate the political institutions.

But he said the British government had “breached very firm commitments” on staging proper inquiries into a number of murders including those of human rights solicitors Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson.

“The Cory Report, when the British made a very firm commitment, was then breached. We discovered in the course of that that the NIO hadn’t even contacted the families. That showed an arrogance that they hadn’t even been in touch with the families from Weston Park until four or five months ago.

“The families are after truth and they don’t trust the British government.

“Everyone knows what happened to Pat Finucane. They are certainly trying to avoid something which is a huge issue, the issue of collusion. Particularly at the time when those who instituted the practice of collusion are so valuable to the British government.”

“Where are some of those people now? They are in Iraq, doing exactly the same thing in Iraq I presume as they did here.”

His comments came after human rights groups demanded in a letter to Tony Blair that he ensures his government sticks to its commitments on inquiries into three controversial murders.

Amnesty International, CAJ and British and Irish Rights this weekend expressed concern that the NIO was planning to pull back on its pledge to keep the families of loyalist Billy Wright, Portadown Catholic Robert Hamill and solicitor Rosemary Nelson fully briefed on plans for the forthcoming inquiries into their murders.

On Saturday, the family of Rosemary Nelson threatened to withdraw their support for the inquiry into her death if the government ignored their views.
The West Belfast MP said the British and Irish governments must not tamper with the fundamentals of the Good Friday Agreement.

He said the governments must move ahead if the DUP are "only being tactical" in their discussions with the governments.

He said the IRA was prepared to make "an unprecedented and historical move".

"I would speculate you are unlikely to get anything from the IRA for less than the Good Friday Agreement," he said.

Mr Adams said he did not see any evidence that the DUP had shifted its position.

"I am more concerned with the stance of both governments . . . this notion that they have of putting forward proposals - which they did in the review - which actually tamper with the fundamentals of the Agreement - I think that is very, very dangerous.

"You have to get a deal within the context and template of the Good Friday Agreement,” he said.